Any time he talks with a new acquaintance, Molina says, he likes to ask, "What's the best advice you've ever received?"

The answers are sometimes humorous, sometimes profound.

"I heard one in Italy," said Molina, the owner of Black, Starr & Frost who was profiled in Thursday's Register. "A man said, 'Every great story begins with a bad decision.'"

Molina maintains a list – "17 Rules for Success" – that he re-evaluates every January, sometimes replacing one rule with a new one. Why 17? His patron saint, St. Lazarus, was associated with the number, he said. It's a number that keeps coming up in his life in many meaningful ways.

15. "No" is just the beginning. "No" means "maybe," and "maybe" means "yes."

16. Interact with people directly. To get milk from a cow, you don't send her a letter.

17. This, too, shall pass; you lose tomorrow reaching back for yesterday. The past does not equal the future.

Molina, a Cuban immigrant who came to the United States at age 7 in the 1960s, has demonstrated how sharply the past can contrast with a better future. He learned the jewelry trade from his grandfather and uncle and went on his own, in Phoenix, 25 years ago by founding Molina's Fine Jewelers.

He has since bought Black, Starr & Frost – the nation's oldest jewelry house – and, at 53, he now holds the world auction records for highest price ever received for a colorless diamond and the highest price ever obtained per carat, $282,500.

He likes to emphasize resilience.

"The other side of tremendous frustration is tremendous success," Molina said. "There's never been a movie or book written about someone who had it easy."